Kakushi koso haru no hajime wa ureshikere tsuraki wa aki no owari narikeri - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かくしこそ春の始めはうれしけれ
つらきは秋の終りなりけり

Roma-ji: Kakushi koso haru no hajime wa ureshikere tsuraki wa aki no owari narikeri
English Translation: Just as it is now,
the beginning of the spring
is a time of joy;
what was bitter was the end
of autumn, gone with my child.
Meaning: So it is that the start of spring brings joy; what was hard to bear was the end of autumn.
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems II 544

Headnote: "Having lost his daughter the previous autumn, when people sent congratulations the following spring on his grandson's appointment as Assistant Commander of the Military Guards"
The poet says that the beginning of spring is joyful like this, but what was hard to bear was the end of autumn, when he lost his daughter. The headnote shows that after losing his daughter the previous autumn, his grandson was appointed Assistant Commander of the Military Guards the following spring, and the poem was written when people sent congratulations. Pairing the spring that brought joy at his grandson's appointment with the autumn when he lost his daughter, it sings of a sorrow that does not fade even amid joy. Where the opening poem of this book, 509, weighed spring against autumn, this poem contrasts spring and autumn as seasons of joy and grief.
The author, Kuniaki, Provisional Master of the Empress Dowager's Household, is Fujiwara no Kuniaki. A son of Fujiwara no Motona, he served as Provisional Master of the Empress Dowager's Household among other posts and rose to the Junior Third Rank.

First line, "kakushi koso," means "just like this," with "shi" an emphatic particle and the binding particle "koso" resolved by the perfective form "ureshikere" in the third line.
Second line, "haru no hajime wa," means "the beginning of spring," speaking of the spring of his grandson's appointment. It pairs with "aki" in the fourth line.
Third line, "ureshikere," means "is joyful," and the poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "tsuraki wa aki no," means "what is bitter is autumn's," pairing "ureshi" in the third line with "tsurashi" in the fourth, and "haru" in the second line with "aki" in the fourth. It shares the device of setting spring and autumn side by side with the first line of the opening poem of this book, 509, "haru aki ni."
Final line, "owari narikeri," means "was the end," pairing with "hajime" in the second line, with "keri" exclamatory.
Author: Fujiwara no Kuniaki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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